Located near Lake Champlain, the Shelburne Museum houses a pretty spectular collection of Americana.  Included is the steamship Ticonderoga, pictured above, which, in an amazing feat of engineering, was moved overland the two miles from Lake Champlain.  There is also a lighthouse from Lake Champlain that was disassembled and moved to the museum and a miniature circus that is pretty amazing.  These attractions are just the tip of the iceberg.

This is a great family adventure.   The price of admission is good for two days, which will be necessary.  The price for Vermont residents is the best deal at 1/2 price, but the family fare — $50 for two adults it their children — is pretty fair for the rest of us.

Photo credit: pdbreen

There is enough budget wise stuff to do in and around here to fill a day.  Boutique window shopping, street performers, amazing food (or pack a lunch), and room for kids to leap and hop are just some of the attractions.  Planning a trip to include Quincy Market (Faneuil Hall Marketplace)?  Make it on a Saturday, bring shopping bags and include a trip to the nearby Farmer’s Market.  There are good deals all day, but visiting at the end of the day is best for two reasons — you’re not toting fresh produce all day AND the vendors are more willing to deal, because they don’t want to tote that produce back home.

Also, the Freedom Trail passes by Quincy Market and the remarkably moving Holocaust Memorial is right there as well.

Photo credit: fuzzcat

When it comes to traveling to Boston from Maine or New Hampshire, one option stands head and shoulders above the others, in my humble opinion.  That option is the highway coaches run by Concord Coach Lines.

Concord’s routes all end at either South Station or Logan Airport.  The price is reasonable — $25.00  same-day round trip ticket through 3/31/10 — and the amenities are stellar.   Some buses have power outlets in the seats, some have WiFi.  Some offer water and a snack at the beginning of the trip.  All have complimentary headsets for watching a movie or listening to one of four types of music.  I have found these coaches always to be clean and comfortable, non-smoking, and equipped with bathroom.

Another point of note is that these coaches run on time!  Portland, Maine, to walking around Boston in two hours.  That is not going to happen with any other means of transport.

Boston, Mass, is not an easy city to navigate by car if one is not familiar with it.  My suggestion?  Make the most of your day by taking a Concord Trailways bus and walk it when you get there.

Always on the lookout for affordable travel tips, I was thrilled to find these sturdy, zippered bags normally used by plumbers and other contractors to keep their gear organized.

I first found them when designing zero waste lunch kits for my husband and I that could literally be used from backpack to briefcase. I noticed in that online product reviews that several contractors had been using them to keep fittings and such organized on tool belts and in gear bags. Made by a company called Custom Leather Craft, they apparently held up to a serious amount of abuse.

So I decided to go for it. The result? These clip-on, zippered bags are going strong with no wear and tear in the corners and zippers that are still performing well. The cool thing about these? You get three of them per pack. So after I ordered two sets to have one of each at the size we needed for the lunch kits, we had four remaining pouches (two of each of the other sizes) to use in various ways to organize our travel gear, which we did on our recent jaunt to Ecuador. The sets of three are less than ten dollars regularly, and have been known to go on sale for between five and six USD.

Some other suggested uses for these include organizing eco-friendly feminine hygiene supplies, keeping security items such as padlocks, s-hooks and door jams organized, or using them to store travel-sized pharmaceuticals all in one place.

Related Reading:

• Gift Ideas for Adventure Travelers
• Travel Gear You Can Buy at the Hardware Store
• How to Travel  Light and Low Budget

Do you have a favorite piece of travel gear from a non-traditional source? Share your affordable equipment hack below.

Photo Credit: Amazon.com

The old-fashioned charm of a roomy, plush home town movie theatre with hundreds of seats is the stuff of nostalgia for a lot of people.  Those theatres  often have been restored and used for different purposes or have been replaced with sterile, non-descript multiplexes that are synonymous with cinema to at least one or two generations of movie goers.

On Route 302 in Bridgton, Maine, the best of both worlds exists in the Magic Lantern theatre.  The original Magic Lantern, where Steven King’s “Carrie” premiered in 1976, was leveled in 2006, rebuilt and reopened in 2008.  It contains 3 theatres. Each theatre includes a small balcony only accessible to adults age 21 and older.  There is ample parking behind the theatre.

There is also a cinema pub on the premises, making dinner and a movie virtually seamless.  Sometimes in the same room!   Movies are always first-run, and the price of admission is unbelievable.  Adults pay $6.50. Children, seniors and matinees are $5.00.

If you find yourself in Bridgton, Maine, with time to spare, consider a movie at the Magic Lantern.  It’s an experience you’ll remember at a price you can’t forget.

Picking up all the incidentals you need for a trip can result in a rather hefty shopping tab. Fortunately, there are several items you can pick up for cheap at your local Dollar Tree. That’s right. The same store that provides uber affordable classroom and home management supplies can also offer bargain basement prices on numerous handy travel items. Here are ten of note:

• Rain ponchos. Great for those rainforest adventures or having a bad weather back up in your day pack that doesn’t take up too much room.

• Umbrellas. The ones in the stores are compact enough size to fit well in smaller pieces of luggage and aren’t a huge financial loss if they get left behind or turned inside out by a strong wind.

• Travel bottles for toiletries. They sell an entire set for a buck with tight screw on lids in smaller sizes to meet the one-quart bag requirements of the airline industry.

• Pharmaceutical items. Stock up on the cheap for things like aspirin, triple antibiotic and more. They also have a compact first aid kit with over forty items. For a buck, that’s a bargain in anyone’s book.

• Word puzzle books. Need something to keep from going crazy while waiting for your flight to take off? Pick up some of these cheapie entertainment options and a few pencils.

• Toothbrushes. They have sets of one plus miniature toothpaste tubes, or a multi pack of five with cover caps suitable for a small family.

• Sunglasses. Not exactly a designer selection, but for taking a trip on the cheap without having to worry about losing an expensive set these will get the job done.

• Tote bags. Love your small purse but wanting something bigger to use as your carry-on for a simple weekend getaway? They have a couple of different styles available that can be used as reusable shopping bags when you return.

• Mesh bags. They have several different kinds in various sizes that can be used to organize backpacks, hold dirty laundry and more.

• Toiletries and incidentals. Numerous travel sizes of personal care and other items are available. Hand sanitizers, tissues, sewing kits, safety pins and matches are just a few of them.

Know of any other cheap travel items you can pick up at Dollar Tree? Be sure to let us know in the comment section below.

Photo Credit: Broker Saunders